Viet Nam climate change, adaptation and poor people

Viet Nam is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change - despite being one of the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. This is particularly worrying, as Viet Nam has enjoyed one of the best development records in recent years of any country in the world. It is on track to meet most of its Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and reduced its poverty rate from about 58 percent of the population in 1993 to 18 percent in 2006. The government’s impressive achievements in pulling millions of people out of poverty are seriously jeopardised by the likely increase in extreme rainfall and drought, and by slow changes like rising sea level rise and warming temperatures.

Poor men and women are particularly at risk and in May 2008 Oxfam researchers travelled to the two provinces of Ben Tre and Quang Tri to take a snapshot of how poor families are experiencing the changing climate, and how they might deal with this in the future.